Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Get It Together, Woman!

I am a woman of a certain age. Ok. Got that?

In my continued work on the sewing room, I hit upon a great idea yesterday. I needed to have a book read by tomorrow (Thursday) for my book club. Because one of our clubbers works at the library, she let me know that an audio copy was available. So I got it, popped it in the boombox, and listened as I tackled a bit of the clutter.

That worked so great. The book is rather a perfect book for listening--Nora Ephron's I Remember Nothing. She herself is reading it, and I can follow it just fine, for actually, it is a lot like listening to Entertainment Tonight or some-such show featuring celebrity names and goings on. I would hate to think I'd actually use up valuable time to stop and read this book! Fluff. Even if I zone out for a minute or two, I seem to be able to go right on along with whatever it is she is describing. Ephron passed in June of 2012; I imagine that is why we decided to read the book. I wonder if we will actually have an in-depth discussion??

Okay, on with progress on the sewing room.

I can tell you quite a bit with just this one picture. First, the table there in front of the ironing board has been dubbed "Sharon's Table" as when she comes to my house to sew, we are doing it up here, and not downstairs at the kitchen table. More work for her, as her stuff has to be lugged up a flight of steps, but I like not dragging the sewing mess downstairs.

Second, her chair has been improved. The one in the picture was quite low, and we couldn't get it raised any higher, so we grabbed an available desk chair (I'd already planned on having it up here, anyway) and it is perfect.

Finally, that stack in the upper right-hand corner with the green tub on the bottom has been sorted and put away. The same goes with those two white baskets on the bottom shelf straight ahead. I consolidated down to one basket - they contained some very old things that I doubt I will be accessing any time soon.

This is my cutting island. I love it! It was set up in the previous sewing room, but all the stuff you see in these pictures was cluttering that room; there was barely enough room to maneuver around the island. (In addition to having a clutter problem I have a hip problem, if you know what I mean.) How did I make this island, you ask? Well, I positioned 2 matching book shelves back-to-back. All my quilt books are on the bottom shelves to provide stability.

For stability on the top, I have used a butcher block from an old dishwasher that we had when we were first-time homeowners. It was a hand-me-down then, as we got it from my parents. It was the kind where you wheeled it across the kitchen and hooked a hose up to the sink faucet. Vintage 1976, I would guess. (My parents got the dishwasher after I left for college!)

But I digress, when we finally junked the dishwasher, I insisted on saving the perfectly good butcher block that was on top. I'd hoped there would be a future for it, and now there is! It doesn't fit exactly, but it works. On top of that, I placed my biggest cutting mat. Again, it's not a precise fit, but it is totally workable. (When I have a big piece of fabric to cut, I plan to bring the ironing board over to hold the excess weight of the yardage while cutting.)

Another view.

Oh, what a mess. This is looking at the opposite side of the room where I will be sewing. Sorta' looks like I've created a nest, doesn't it? Since taking this picture, I have added a tall tower of shelves in the corner to the right of the window, and a short shelf unit in the corner to the left of the media center. (The TV tray with a boombox and an iPod docking station, in other words.) The piles on the floor in front of the media center are mostly put away. That leaning tower of tubs just in front of the window is also gone. Look at this stuff for a moment and you will see that I have a hard time throwing away plastic bags. I have corralled all the bags in the middle drawer of that plastic purple unit under the end of my desk. That was Emma's drawer unit, once upon a time, and now I have inherited it from her. (Just like this desk was once hers, too.)

I work as long as the sciatic will allow me, which continues to improve, by the way. I have barely had any pain at all today, and it's going on 3pm. Yay!

Well, I must me off. Things to do. I definitely have more to share, so I hope I can "get it together, woman!"

3 comments:

What a smart lady--looking into the future and keeping that butcher block. And such a smart use of the back-to-back shelves. Your room is going to be so well organized when you get done. Looking forward to future photos as the room progresses.

Wow, you are really getting it together. So brave to post pictures, I don't dare even take a picture of the mess my room has become. We had that same butcher block dishwasher and I just asked DH if we had kept the top when we got the built it and he says he has it in the workshop for a cutting board. My cutting table is a unit he built for toy storage long ago.

Progress... I love your cutting table island! Until I can have enough room for a freestanding table I'll keep doing major cutting on the big counter in my kitchen (same floor as my quilting room). I have a small one against the window for trimming blocks.